Delegate: Dr Kamalesh K Gulia
Affiliation: Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, INDIA
Short Bio: Kamalesh K Gulia, an Indian Sleep Scientist, has carried out extensive research in area of neurophysiology of sleep, onto-genetic development of sleep and its role in cognition, neural plasticity, Yoga Nidra for improving sleep and wellbeing. She has contributed to role of sleep during peri-natal developmental window (sleep deprivation during pregnancy and post-parturition effects in offspring) in shaping cognition and emotional behavior in offspring. She has also contributed towards management of insomnia through various herbs. She contributed to use of Yoga Nidra as a non-pharmacological intervention to improve quality of sleep and well-being in postmenopausal women. She has authored a book titled Sleep Wisdom for Children as Nature’s Symphony that was published in English India in 2022, Malayalam in 2023.
Activity: World Sleep Day (WSD) was celebrated on 14 March 2025 in the MS Valiathan Medical Devices and Engineering Block seminar hall of the Biomedical Technology (BMT) Wing, SCTIMST. This year, the World Sleep Day festivity mood was vibrant with rejoice of “Holi”, a festival of colors in northern India that was observed on the same day. The WSD 2025 was organized by the team of Division of Sleep Research (DSR). Ms Shani (Research Associate-Social Worker, DSR) compered the program and Dr Prajitha Raj (Senior Project Associate, DSR) welcomed Dr Harikrishna Varma, Head, BMT Wing; Dr TV Anil Kumar, HOD, Department of Applied Biology; the esteemed Speakers of the program with sunflowers and button badges.
On this occasion, Dr Kamalesh K Gulia, In-charge of the DSR welcomed the gathering appraising the aim and importance of this awareness program. She explained the concept of health as described by WHO and role of Sleep Health in the current lifestyle. Dr Harikrishna Varma, Head of the BMT Wing delivered the Inaugural Address and highlighted the importance of sleep health. He emphasized the need of prioritizing Sleep for better performance and good health. He mentioned that World Sleep Day is meticulously organized by Dr Gulia every year to bring awareness about sleep. Dr TV Anil Kumar, HOD, Dept of Applied Biology shared his personal experience focusing on importance of Sleep Health.
Dr Dinoop KP, Assistant Prof, Microbiology delivered Sleep Day Lecture on Sleep Health for Gut Health. Dr Dinoop highlighted the importance of continues interactions of sleep, circadian rhythms in regulation of our microbiota profiles throughout our lives for good health. Dr Gulia deliberated on Can AI and Sleep Consumer Technology can aid sleep health? She discussed dynamic global scenario of consumer sleep technology market across the globe, and its potential scope in personalized sleep medicine. She also touched upon new concepts of orthosomnia. Dr Jijo Varghese, Assistant Prof, Physical Med & Rehab Dept, elaborated on Can management of Neck Arm pain improve Sleep Health? He elegantly described musculoskeletal system fatigue in the neck arm pain. His team members, Ms Amina and Ms Ardra gave live demonstration of a few exercises for neck arm muscle relaxation. Er Arvind K Prajapati shared his sleep experience Sleepless nights dilemma of new parents. He also devised a strategy to cope up with sleep based on famous Fishbone diagram modeled by Kaoru Ishikawa. In the end, Ms Sethulakshmi VS, PhD scholar and Ms Nihal CM pursuing Masters Technology in the BMT wing shared Challenges in Student’s life and Remedies to improve Sleep Health providing insights into sleep disrupting factors in hostel life from their real experiences. Various aspects of sleep health were discussed among staff during the World Sleep Day celebration to devise for all the possible measures to prioritize our sleep for a better life and overall well being.
Location: Biomedical Technology Wing, Trivandrum, Kerala
Date of Activity: 14 March 2025
Submitted by: Dr Kamalesh K Gulia
